


Gamine

by grexigone



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Cassian's secret skill, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Haircuts, also some self indulging fluff, because why not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26231623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grexigone/pseuds/grexigone
Summary: Moving from one base to another is never an easy task, and every time they are forced to leave anything unnecessary and only bring the essentials. And yet, as simple and personal (and possibly unimportant) as a hair tie might be in comparison to datapad that holds hundreds of classified intels, it easily becomes a luxury in a place where there is literally nothing.
Relationships: Cassian Andor & Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor/Jyn Erso
Comments: 6
Kudos: 36





	Gamine

**Author's Note:**

> One-shot fluff because they deserve it.
> 
> Also because I just realized that haircut can be something that is very intimate, and having uncooperative hair myself means I highly appreciate anyone who put so much care into tending my hair, especially from family members or someone close.

"I can't believe it's really gone," Cassian turned to where Jyn's muffled voice came and smiled. She was laying flat on her chest against the floor, the upper half of her body disappeared under his bed. By the tone in her voice alone, he is almost certain that she's wearing one of her frustrated faces by now.

"Are you sure this is where you drop it?" Jyn asked him for the fifth time that afternoon.

"Yes, Jyn, I am sure," Cassian replied lightly without tearing his eyes from the report in his datapad, barely containing the smile that grew wider when she responded with a series of curses and 'tsk's. 

It was a full five minutes later when Jyn finally emerged from the darkness of his under-bed, with the exact face he'd been mused just moments earlier.

"Maker knows where it goes," Jyn sighed in defeat when he looked at her, sitting on her heels with both hands against her hips and her unbound hair tousled at odd directions after she seemed to tuck them behind her ears haphazardly through her eyes still scanning the room in one last attempt. "It's like you have a black hole under your bed, so whatever falls there must have been teleported to another planet."

Cassian huffed a laugh, "Probably, yeah. I'll help you find it when I'm off planet, or just get you a new one."

Jyn gave him another ‘ _tsk_ ’, "That’s the third hair tie I lost this week already, and you know how hard it is to find one in this Force forsaken planet,” she added while pulling the scarf around her neck tighter to fight Hoth’s merciless cold.

Moving from one base to another is never an easy task, and every time they are forced to leave anything unnecessary and only bring the essentials. And yet, as simple and personal (and possibly unimportant) as a hair tie might be in comparison to _datapad_ that holds hundreds of classified intels, it easily becomes a luxury in a place where there is literally nothing. And so at Hoth people tend to cling to their possessions to the extremes, where a fight was broken some two weeks ago due to someone borrowing (or _claiming_ , depending on the perspective) another person’s comb without the other’s permission.

Cassian stood up from his chair and moved towards her, extending an arm which Jyn took almost instantly to pull herself up. “Then I’ll bring you a whole bunch of it, so you have spares,” he said playfully, watching the air puffing between their close proximity as he brought both hands to rub warmth up and down her arms.

“Spares will eventually run out. That’s not the solution. _You_ need to stop throwing away my hair ties,” Jyn retorted and pouted, avoiding his gaze. Cassian noticed in amusement as colors bloom on her cheeks that is clearly not associated with cold. “You really like that, don’t you?” she asked shyly, busying herself with tightening the knot on the scarf peeking from his usual parka.

“Well for instance, I see no problem with having them down like this,” he hums as he brings one hand to untangle a frizzy strand near her left ear. “And secondly, I believe you’re enjoying it as much as I do. You should hear yourself last night when I pulled your hair and-”

“Yes, yes, you’ve made your point,” Jyn fought to contain the smile that surely turned her face ridiculous as she peeked through her lashes as she saw Cassian broke into a silent chuckle. “It’s not that I don’t like it down like this, it’s just that they’re…” she blew air from lopsided lips that brings the hair in front of her eyes to raise before falling unceremoniously back to where it was, too close to her eyes, “...already too long for my standard. It gets everywhere.”

When Cassian did not immediately respond, she looked up only to find him staring at her hair with his brows knotted. He was thinking about something, and seemed to immediately get lost inside of his own train of thought as he smoothed and combed another layer of frizzy hair on her head with delicate fingers, stopping at the end and stared at it for a few seconds. Jyn finally looked at him properly, enjoying one of her favorite views and just overall precious moments before the world and the war thrown at their lives once again. She watched him watch her, still playing with the ends of her hair and flipping them over, before breaking the silence.

“Uh, Cass?”

“I can cut them for you,” Cassian replied almost instantly, eyes still on the strands between his fingers. “It shouldn’t be...well, it depends on which style you want, but again, it won’t be too hard to just...I can snip it here and…”

He stopped when he realized Jyn was looking at him intently with lips quirked upwards and glints of curiosity in her eyes. She’d never heard him mumbling like that before except in another, very different situation that is more private, but then again, they’ve been together for months and still a lot of Cassian that is yet to be revealed.

“You were saying…?” Jyn asked tentatively, hoping that she doesn’t sound mocking that he’d retracted whatever plan he was making in his head.

And to her delight, Cassian looked at her with resolution in his eyes and repeated, “I can cut your hair. I learned the skill some years ago, so maybe it won’t be as good as expected? But if you want I can-”

“Yes,” Jyn shook her head before he finished, causing some strands to fall from where they are tucked behind her ears. “It doesn’t have to be good. I just want them shorter, so...let’s do it,” she added, and watched as Cassian’s face lit up, and he gave her a nod and a quick peck on her lips before backing away towards the door.

“Alright, stay there. I’m going to get the kit,” he flashed a smile then disappeared behind the swishing of the door. Alone in his quarters, Jyn couldn’t help but laugh to herself as she relived what she just saw. Cassian was practically grinning like a young boy being presented with a new toy, the lines that usually decorated his face disappeared for a moment and she hasn’t even processed the fact that he basically just revealed a set of skills she never knew he had.

Jyn didn't even remember the last time she ever went to a place specifically to have her hair cut. When she was younger, it was her mother who took the job and after that, a member of Saw’s partisan who also braided her hair like her mother used to do. _This way you won’t forget her, and yourself,_ she had said. But after she was tragically killed in a raid, there was no one to take care of her hair, so Jyn resolved to a simple bun and let loose whatever strands that cannot fit into it. She had used the knife Saw left her with to cut her hair once, but as soon as she got a hold on a stolen blaster, she ditched the knife and the painful memory attached to it.

The sound of the door swishing open once more distracted her from the memories and the smile returned to Jyn’s face when she saw Cassian came back with a small duffel bag in his hand. The thick puff in front of his face indicates that he’s been running, and he took a full three seconds before speaking.

“Thankfully they didn’t leave this on Yavin,” he said bemusingly, swinging the bag into the space between them.

“Do they even know what’s in there?” Jyn raised an eyebrow, watching intently as Cassian dropped the bad onto the table on the other side of the room and started rummaging its content.

“Nope,” he replied while pulling out something that looks like a belt with pouches attached to it and a folded cloth, “Apparently the name tag I put on it years ago is enough to make the impression that it’s important. Okay, I think we can use this chair.”

Cassian paced the small room and moved the chair to the center, giving enough distance so, as Jyn could assess, that her falling hair won’t spread everywhere or to spaces he wouldn’t be able to clean. He stared at the chair for a second, adjusting the height, before patting the backrest to signal her to sit on it. Jyn obliged happily, letting herself flop into the chair with anticipation while watching Cassian pull out more and more stuff from the bag and arrange it on each pouch on the belt.

“This should be all I need for now,” he nodded resolutely to himself then made his way towards the ‘fresher to open the latch and Jyn could see herself - or rather, the top of her head only - on its reflection. In one swift move, Cassian positioned himself behind her and pushed the lever under the chair with his feet, enabling it to raise until Jyn can see her entire face and down to her neck in the mirror. 

“Let’s see whether you need...what?”

Jyn didn’t even realize she was grinning sheepishly the entire time, until Cassian’s eyes met hers in the mirror, his brow quirked up. She immediately fixed her face, biting her lip and throwing him a shrug in response.

“Nothing. I’m excited...and wondering when are you going to start telling me about how you acquire this skill, _Captain_.”

Cassian gave her a look of mock annoyance, “Conversation usually doesn't start until I begin cutting, _Sargeant._ The correct order is: first we are going to do some courtesy. So I’m going to ask you, ‘How’s your day, Miss?’” he asked while he reached the zip of her winter jacket from behind her and slid it down, stealing a peck to her temple in the process.

“Oh, this is new,” Jyn gasped pretentiously but then she couldn’t help herself anymore and broke into a series of giggles before clearing her throat and composing herself once more. She had a feeling she’s going to enjoy this game very much. “Is this also part of the service, _Sir_?” she asked with the best Coruscant accent she could manage as she shimmied herself off the thick fabric as well as the scarf and stepped down the chair to help him remove it completely until she’s left with the inner layer of long sleeved wool.

“Only for a very special client,” Cassian responded with an attempt to wink, only to fail miserably when he blinked both eyes instead of just one. Jyn snorted as he placed his hands on her shoulders to guide her back to the chair.

“My day was wonderful, thank you,” Jyn continued, lifting her chin up like all those rich folks she saw from time to time.

“Great, so now I’m going to ask you again, ‘And how may I be at your service today, Miss?’”

“I would need-”

“Oh, no no no,” Cassian shook his head and lowered himself until their faces are align side by side on the reflection, “Coruscanties don’t _ask_ , they _order_ ,” he said in all seriousness, “And they assume everyone already know what they want as if they’re a regular, so you’re going to say, ‘Just the usual, please.’”

“Just the usual, please,” Jyn repeated, waving one hand on the air to add more taste into the act and watching in anticipation as Cassian gave her a quick nod and removed his own parka and scarf, tossing it onto the bed just beside hers. “Don’t you think you’re going to fast with this, Sir? I think we should start by going to dinner, _then_ off with our clothes,” she teased him playfully, which earned her an out-of-character chuckle from her mock hairdresser.

“I need to move smoothly to provide the best service, Miss,” he cocked his head to glance at her from the mirror’s reflection, then moved to take the cloth from the table and unfold it, revealing an oddly cut poncho which he wrapped around her body, covering it entirely before securing the clasp behind her neck. Next, Cassian then grabbed the pouched belt from the table and buckled it around his hips where it hangs low from the weight of various tools - some of which Jyn had never seen before.

“Shall we begin?” He guided her head from staring at the tools back to the mirror with gentle fingers on her head and chin and greeted her with a smile when their eyes met again. Jyn nodded, and she watched intently as Cassian pulled out a thin black comb from one of the pouches and started smoothing and untangling all the mess that was her hair, made worse by the dry, cold air of Hoth. 

The sight was fascinating, if not entertaining and somewhat therapeutic. She couldn’t help but marvel at how the same hands that usually preoccupied with blaster, tools, and dirt swayed flawlessly to arrange each strand into a neat curtain on her back, treating every knot he found along the way with patience and gentleness Jyn sure she would never possess. If it was her, she would just forcefully pull at the strands until the knots gave out, caring less about the pain or how it could potentially damage her entire scalp.

Cassian was so into the routine, cocking his head from one side to another while he divided her hair into several parts and clipped them up with pins until a portion right above her nape was the one left down. Jyn snorted at how ridiculous it made her look with hairs sticking out like Solo’s Wookie friend Chewbacca after a snowstorm. But Cassian looked unfazed, relaxed even. Where the taut lines usually formed on his forehead whenever he was thinking hard or calculating his next move during missions, none has appeared now and it fills her heart with delight. He was enjoying it, and for once the activity seemed to possess none of the weight of duty that the others attached with.

“When was the last time you cut your hair?” Cassian broke the comforting silence as he stole a glance at her through the mirror. She responded with a shrug and a mumble of ‘ _don’t remember_ ’. “It’s a mess,” he added with a chuckle, shaking his head at the sight of the unevenly cut ends. “I assume whoever did it wasn’t using a scissor?”

“At least it wasn’t a laser cutter. Anyway, have we reached the part where you tell the story yet?” She watched with a grin as he pulled out a silver scissor from one of the pouches and with a determined look and a quick nod, made the first cut that produces a nice, crisp sound that echoes through the small quarter. The first strands fell to the floor silently. Cassian smiled in affirmation, not tearing his eyes away from the work, and began.

“I was on a mission to gather intel from this high ranking Imperial officer that was stationed in Bespin. I forget his name so let's just call him Bob,” he loosened some strands from their pin and combed them once again, slower this time, stopping just close from the edge and replacing the comb with his fingers, clipping them tightly between his index and middle before cutting the ends clean.

“He was reclusive, an ambitious loner who doesn’t even drink and loathes parties and gatherings. For weeks Rebel Intels were dispatched to observe him, watching his routines and schedules, but it was very difficult. He was busy and often off-planet, but his knowledge is too important to miss so we really need to find a way to get to Bob.”

Cassian repeated the same set of movements with the rest of the strands, sometimes going back to the previous ones and clipped off more ends. Jyn noticed that the closer he got to her sides, the longer the ends were cut. She wanted to ask about the style he’s giving her, but decided to wait until the story finishes.

“We eventually found out that the only routine and hobby he got was to go to a barbershop. He apparently grew hair so quick he needed a shave every two weeks and a haircut every month, and always went to this same barbershop in Cloud City where he’s a regular. So I struck a deal with the owner, who happened to be a Festian, where he would allow me to pose as a new barber that will handle the Imperial officer everytime he went there.”

Jyn’s hair started to form into a reasonable shape as the strands on the floor piled up, scattered around her like grass but instead of green they were brown. She hummed in response every now and then, letting him know she was listening to every single word, all while not tearing her gaze from Cassian's every move. 

“I had two weeks of intense training with the owner, to make sure I was believable enough as a barber. The story was that the shop owner knew me when I was a child in Fest and decided to help me get out of my miserable, village-life by giving me a job in Bespin. We always communicate in Festian to maintain the act that I don't speak Basics, while the owner will pose as the interpreter.”

"Ooh, that's very smart!” Their eyes met in the mirror's reflection, Cassian's smile mimicked Jyn's as his cheeks colored at Jyn's compliment, her voice thick with pride.

“You’d never realize how much information those simple people like barbers, shop owners, food cart vendors can pick up by just doing their daily job," he continued, "I got what I needed and more, simply because Bob enjoyed his time at the barbershop that he started recommending and inviting his colleagues to come as well.”

"And they spilled some stuff because he thought you wouldn't understand," Jyn concluded. "Wow, that's brilliant."

With that he unclipped the last bunch of hairs and repeated the cutting method, before backing away for a bit to examine the result. Jyn couldn’t see beyond the strands framing her face - which are now significantly shorter - but could tell from how her head felt way lighter than before that Cassian must’ve trimmed quite a lot off. As if reading her mind, he then divided her hair right in the middle, scooped them in each hand and brought them forward to lie against her clavicle.

“What do you think?” Cassian asked as he leaned closer to her, hand gripping gently at her shoulders without putting any weight onto them while Jyn followed his eyes towards her new hair.

She was no expert in styles or models (not that she cares either), but the final result left her agape: Cassian had ditched most of her hair until it formed a neat bob that fall just below shoulders, just enough to allow her usual bun, and he’d added layers so that her bangs are shorter than the rest, framing her face evenly on either side also with skillful layering work.

“Cassian, I-” Jyn lifted one hand from underneath the cloth to touch her hair as if they’re unreal, except they were, attached to _her_ own head. Cassian’s mouth quirked up at her reaction, satisfied enough with seeing her reaction.

“ _This is amazing_ ,” she breathed out, eyes still fixed on the result of his handwork. She shook her head gently, watching in awe at how the strands flew and fell against her head and how they made her overall appearance seem somewhat different but in a much better way. She still shivered slightly from the cold, but at least now she does it with style.

“Glad you liked it,” Cassian resolved with a gentle squeeze on her shoulders and a peck to her temple, moving away to unbuckle and put the tool belt back into the duffel bag before returning to remove the covering cloth from her, flicking the fabric to remove any hair residue before tossing it away to join the tool belt.

“Are you _kriffing_ kidding me?” Jyn turned and glared at him, “I _loved_ it. Cass, this...this is professional work! Do you ever consider making any credits out of it?”

He shrugged and huffed a laugh, “No. It was only for the mission so as soon as it’s done, I faked my own demise with the help of the shop owner and just...forget about it completely I guess? I don’t even remember I still have this...” he jutted his chin at the duffel bag, “...until today.”

As if on cue, a gust of wind reminds them of where they were, forcing a gasp from Jyn and a hiss from Cassian. She stood up and immediately reached for her scarf and jacket, wrapping both around her body with remarkable speed before bringing Cassian’s and helped him slip into his own.

“Is there anything you can’t do, Captain?” Jyn asked teasingly as she tightened the collar of Cassian’s parka to make sure he’s warm, relishing the closeness they’ve shared with each other even since their first mission, at the streets of Jedha. “I think you have a thing with hair,”

“Only yours,” Cassian replied with _that_ smile that always managed to make her stomach flutter; the smile he only ever gave to her. He looped his one arm around her waist to pull her close and giggled when their thick jacket bumped and hindered any attempt to get closer, reaching out to comb her hair with his free hand as they remained within the comforting silence for a while, eyes locked into each other.

“I still need a hair tie, though,” Jyn hummed as she broke the contact to nuzzle her head against Cassian’s chest instead, seeking warmth for her freezing cheeks. “And I’m serious about the possible side career. You should consider it.”

The rumble that vibrated through his chest was enough to tell her that he’s laughing, and Jyn couldn’t help but follow suit.

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of those fic that just popped into my mind without any warning or any planning, jotted first into any media that happened to be within arm's reach. This isn't part of any prompt (which I still need to do, sorry for anyone who sent asks...I WILL get them done), and I'm personally proud of the length as I'm trying to get back to writing short, condensed fics.
> 
> As mentioned at the beginning of the fic, my hair is... _complicated_ , if I may put it into one word. They're naturally curly (or wavy?), or as my mother put it: just like movie!Galadriel but ash-black and way, _way_ thicker and just...more hair in general. Tending them myself, such as shampooing and drying, can be hours, and living in a country where the beauty standard is long, straight-and-falling-like-curtain hair got me spend most of my life going through different styles and models that would fit into that standard, or just trying to find the right product that fit my hair type (note: there are not many). It took me years to finally be done with trying and just be happy and proud with the way they are.
> 
> Cutting them is another problem, because again, since they're not exactly fit the standard, there aren't many barber that understand how to cut curly hair - which makes me appreciate any of them who manage to successfully put a decent style to my hair.
> 
> As I said, I personally think tending to one's hair is something that's very intimate and just...a whole different level of someone showing their love and care. I remember my grandmother once patiently uncurl each knotted strands of my hair after an event requires me to style them into a Javanese bouffant, all the while I cried on her lap from the pain it caused my scalp and swore that I will never put my hair into a bouffant ever again.
> 
> As I went on with writing this, I also inclined to share this (fun) fact and idea that intels don't always look like James Bond with suit and tie and drinking martini (shaken, not stirred). Most of the time they blend into everyday people and where I live, they are said to disguise themselves as street food vendors, cleaners, people that can be everywhere at any time without drawing attention. So if you suddenly found a street food vendor randomly appear in a protest, a riot, or any event along the line, selling food or drinks or anything, well, be careful.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this self-indulgent fluff one shot as much as I am in writing them. Also, it's not beta'ed so apologize in advance for any typo or grammatical error.
> 
> Stay healthy, loves!


End file.
